CCQDER Cognitive Interviewing Studies

This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified small businesses to perform a potential requirement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) seeks a contractor to conduct cognitive interviewing evaluation studies on a variety of demographic, social, and health-related topics in various languages. The contractor will be responsible for all activities necessary to conduct, complete, remunerate, document, and deliver the results of a specific cognitive interviewing study using test questions provided by NCHS. The range of cognitive interviews to be conducted for any one specific study is 10-200. The contractor will be required to enter into a Designated Agency Agreement (DAA) with CDC/NCHS. The contractor may be responsible for completing a CIPSEA Information Protection Plan as determined by the NCHS Confidentiality Officer and the NCHS Information Systems Security Officer. The contractor may also be required to provide inspection of contractor facility that collects, uses, or stores cognitive interviewing and cognitive interview support data under a Designated Agent Agreement (DAA). The contractor shall provide all labor, equipment, supplies, services, permits, and licenses necessary to perform the work. The attached draft statement of work (SOW) contains more details about the work. Also attached is a draft of the CLIN structure for an IDIQ contract. CLINs 0001,0002,0003, 0004, 0006, and 0008 are expected to have fixed unit prices that cover all the components of each CLIN. CLINs 0005 and 0007 are expected to be cost reimbursement CLINs and estimated costs will be negotiated prior to issuing a modification to fund a specific project. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the NAICS code 621511 for the potential acquisition. Responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. Additionally, organizations submitting information must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM). Anticipated period of performance is 60 months. Capability statement /information sought. Respondents believing that they possess the expertise and experience to meet the government's needs described in the SOW are invited to submit technical and management capabilities addressing those requirements. These may include but are not limited to: (a) staff expertise, including staff availability, experience, and formal and other training and (b) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. Below are minimum qualifications that a contractor must meet to be considered as potentially capable of successfully performing this work. Capability submittals must document these qualifications. The contractor must have experience conducting detailed analysis of conducted cognitive interviews, to include constructing analytic codes and themes from cognitive interviews using the five level pyramid method (Level 1 - Conducting interviews; Level 2 - Summarizing interview notes; Level 3 - Comparing across respondents; Level 4 - Comparing across groups; Level 5 - Drawing conclusions about question performance) described in - Cognitive Interviewing Methodology (Wiley Series in Survey Methodology) by Kristen Miller, Valerie Chepp, Stephanie Willson, Jose Luis Padilla published July 2014. The capability statement shall include a sample of a cognitive testing report completed within the last two years that demonstrates experience in conducting detailed analysis of cognitive interviews and constructing analytic codes and themes using this method. Staff conducting cognitive interviews must have a training certificate from Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) for Social & Behavioral Research and RCR Combined training courses. Contracted staff must provide CITI expiration date to the Contracting Officer Representative (COR). The contractor must be able to manage and complete several simultaneous interview projects, often with short turn-around times. Additionally, some projects may include cognitive interviews to be conducted in various non-English languages, especially Spanish. The contractor should have sufficient numbers of its own staff to conduct the interviews in order to complete simultaneous interview projects within the short timelines that are often required. Pursuant to Federal and HHS Information Security Program Policies, the Contractor and any subcontractor performing under this task order shall comply with the following requirements: Contractor performance and resulting deliverables shall adhere to all Federal, HHS, and/or CDC IT security policies and procedures. The contractor shall adhere to the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) FISMA status and remediation reports shall be approved as required. Additionally, a respondent must include in its capability statement: - Organization name, - Address, - DUNS number, - Business size and Classification (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc.) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code of 541720 with a size standard of $22.0 M. - Points of contact, - Emails for contacts, - Telephone numbers for contacts. Response Due Date. Submit information above to Florence P. Black, Contract Specialist -Contractor, CDC- OFR - OAS, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236, and Reference: 75D301-20R-68209. Responses are due no later than 1:00 PM, July 10, 2020, Eastern Time. Responses must be submitted via email addressed to fpblack@cdc.gov. Any information received by the government will not be returned. Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response to this notice. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a solicitation may be posted at beta.sam.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).